The Awakening
by Hermione's Equal
Summary: The Final Battle is over and Hermione is put into a coma of sorts. When she awakens, she finds the world is different and that she has much to learn about people she thought she knew so well. Severus and Hermione with Ron bashing. Harry Ginny possible.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Final Battle**

The final battle occurred one and half months after Harry, Hermione and Ron would have graduated from Hogwarts. The three, instead of finishing off their seventh year, spent the year tracking down Voldemort's horcruxes and managed to destroy them all just before Harry's eighteenth birthday. Surprise, surprise, when Voldemort plans his attack for the very day.

The Golden Trio, headed by the 'boy-who-lived', stormed through the battle fronts to where Voldemort and his closest minions were and destroyed him. Nobody thought it possible, but through Hermione's research, Ron's brave leap to block the cruciatus from getting to Harry, a diversion in the form of a giant named Grawp, and Harry's swift cast of the killing curse, Voldemort ceased to exist in brief seconds.

The wizarding world began to celebrate that very minute. The death eaters began to attack all around them, catching anyone off guard. Ron Weasley, who was on the ground in severe pain from the cruciatus curse, was the first target of Lucius Malfoy. Seeing the danger her fiancé was in, Hermione leaped to protect him, receiving the unknown curse herself.

Lucius was swiftly hexed afterwards by a very angry Harry. The rest of the Death Eaters were wrangled in that day as well, aside from a few that got away. At the end of the day, Harry was a little battered and out of energy, Ron was fighting tremors from the after affects of the cruciatus, and Hermione was unconscious in the Hospital wing, unable to be awoken.

Despite the many tragedies of the day, including Neville's demise and a blinded Luna Lovegood, the unconscious form of Hermione Granger unsettled Harry the most. His best friend was unmoving in the bed next to him while the entire wizarding world was celebrating her success. She was the one who searched and searched for the Horcruxes and Madame Pomfrey was not even sure she would ever recover from whatever curse was affecting her.

As the days went on and Hermione was still unable to regain consciousness, everyone lost hope that she would ever awake. In the beginning, Harry and Ron would visit her bed side and talk to her, like they did when she was petrified from the basilisk. A week later, Harry was there all the time and Ron only showed up a couple of times, claiming that he could not bear to see her like that.

Others came to see her often too. Professor McGonagall would threaten to give her a detention if she didn't wake up. That seemed to make her listen when she was still a student, but to no avail, she remained in her slumber. Professor Snape, whose name was cleared by Hermione during the search for Horcruxes, visited nearly every day, much to Harry's surprise. They never talked to each other, but when Harry left Hermione's side for a bathroom break, he often came back to see Snape speaking with Hermione's sleeping form.

* * *

"I don't much care to take on apprentices, Miss Granger, but if you wake up, I will think about it." Harry heard Snape speak in soft tones as he approached the bed.

"There is still no sign of her awaking yet." Harry stated matter-of-factly as he took the seat next to Hermione's bed and offered Snape some tea. He politely declined and Harry proceeded with adding cubes of sugar to his own.

"Where is Miss Granger's fiancé?" He asked with what seemed to be an almost impassive tone of voice.

"Ron said he couldn't handle seeing her like this." Harry said, disbelievingly, and shrugged. "Hermione is like a sister to me and Ron is, of course, my best mate, but I honestly do not get how they managed to become engaged to each other. It makes no sense." Severus cocked an eyebrow at the boy he had spent his entire life loathing.

"I agree." He muttered quietly and Harry could have sworn that hell froze over at that minute. "Miss Granger is not Weasley's type."

"Yes, I doubt very much that Hermione would have spent the rest of her life admiring Ron, like he would have wished her to do."

"Then I suppose it is best that I saw him escorting Miss Brown through Diagon Alley yesterday evening." Harry shrugged and then looked at Hermione sadly.

"How is she going to handle that when she wakes up?" Harry said, more to himself than to Snape.

"And you presume that she is going to wake?"

"Yes." Harry answered without question. "I have full confidence she will pull out of this trance. I just wish that she would do it sooner rather than later because everything is changing around her." Severus only 'humph'-ed and Harry could have sworn he saw one of the sides of his mouth curl upwards in a half-smile.

"Good day." He said and then left the room quickly, his robes billowing behind him. Harry smiled down at Hermione.

"You should really wake up, Mione. It seems that even Snape cares about you." With that, Harry left the room to go about his regular business. Even he knew that he couldn't spend every waking moment in the room with Hermione. He knew that she wouldn't like that very much, especially with Voldemort gone and his life ahead of him.

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_AN: I'd love to hear what you think about it so far. Reviews are always welcome... even if they state I am a miserable writer and that I should have my fingers dislocated to prevent me from ever typing another letter... Smiles..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Confrontation**

"Ron!" Harry sped up to match Ron's wide steps. "Wait up!"

"What is it, Harry? I'm on my way to something." He stopped just outside the doors to the Great Hall. The three of them were staying at the castle. Sadly enough, the school was the location of the final battle and was greatly damaged. The school year had been postponed until after the Christmas break and Harry, Ron and others were there to help fix it up.

"Why haven't you gone to see Hermione?" Harry said, quickly getting to the point. Ron's face flushed slightly.

"I haven't, uhm, had much time." He said and Harry knew he was lying by the way his ears were tinged scarlet.

"You are terrible at lying." Derision was present in his voice. "Now tell me why Snape saw you with Lavender if you are so busy."

"It's been three weeks and she still isn't awake, Harry. How long am I supposed to wait for her to wake up?" Harry's anger was quickly rising. "I doubt she would want me to-"

"She's your bloody fiancé! You don't just give up after three weeks!" Harry, although a good six inches shorter than Ron stood up to him and glared into his ice blue eyes. "What is she going to feel like when she wakes up and the 'love of her life' is no longer in love with her?"

"I don't think she is going to wake up, Harry." Ron said angrily and walked away. If looks could kill, Ron would have died three times over. Minutes later, Harry found himself storming down to the Hospital wing. He found Snape sitting next to her bed, holding onto her hand. Upon his loud arrival, Snape quickly let go.

"The bloody Git!" Harry was pacing frantically mumbling obscenities. Severus stood from his seat and walked over to where Harry was fuming. He firmly placed his hands on Harry's shoulders to stop him abruptly. Startled from it all, Harry looked up to see the amusement in his dark black orbs.

"I assume you are talking of Mr. Weasley?"

"He gave up!" Harry all but shouted. Snape had to stop to wipe the spit that was dripping from his face.

"And that surprises you?" Harry looked at Snape curiously. "You are his 'best mate'," Snape mocked, "but even you aren't blind. I bet he wasn't planning on living past this war; otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed their relationship. They weren't made for each other."

"That doesn't mean that he couldn't have waited for her to wake up! He almost sounded like he didn't want her to wake up." Harry finally began to settle down and Snape removed his arms from his shoulders.

"I wasn't saying that what he did was admirable."

"He is supposed to be her friend!" Snape willed himself to keep from retorting angrily at Harry, but was tempted greatly until he heard a soft voice from behind.

* * *

_AN: Sorry this was really short. It seemed like a good cut off point._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: She's Awake!**

"Is that you, Harry?" Snape and Harry both turned violently, their necks cracking.

"Hermione!" He rushed to her side where she was trying to prop herself up.

"I had the most horrible dream." She exclaimed groggily. Aside from a slight crackle in her voice, she seemed like she had just woken up from a night's sleep. Snape quickly schooled his expression to appear as though he didn't care.

"Hermione, are you really awake?" Harry said in awe as he rushed over to her bedside.

"Why am I in the hospital wing? Did you defeat Voldemort! Is it over!!" She was awake with excitement. "Professor Snape?" She said as she began to quickly cover herself in blankets.

"We won, Hermione." Harry said quietly as tears began to form in his eyes. "It's over." The happiness at knowing his best friend and non-biological sister was going to be okay was overwhelming him.

"Is something the matter? Ron didn't-" Tears began to fall down her cheeks. "He's not dead is he?" She no longer cared that Snape was in the room and quickly removed her blankets and tried to stand to find him. Her feet quickly gave way below her from lack of use in the last few weeks. Harry rushed to her side to help place her back onto the bed where she stared at him bewildered.

Harry only shook his head to tell Hermione that Ron wasn't dead. Hermione had no clue that she had been asleep for nearly a month. How was she going to handle that he had given up on her and moved on to be with someone else?

"Is he okay, Harry? Please tell me he is alright!" Hermione looked sadly at Harry, hoping for a good reaction but the only expression Harry wore was one of confusion.

"Ron is perfectly healthy, Miss Granger." Snape spoke from behind Harry. Hermione thought she was daydreaming because the usual icy anger that was ordinarily present in Snape's voice had disappeared leaving what could only be described as relief.

"Then what is wrong, Harry?" Hermione was confused and didn't know what was going on. She was trying to tie the pieces together. She was in the hospital wing with Harry and Professor Snape. Nobody else was around, and all was seemingly quiet.

"I better go tell Madame Pomfrey you are awake." Harry said and left Snape and Hermione alone for a fraction of a minute. Snape could see that she was malnourished due to her sleep, but other than that, she appeared in good health. Hermione was curious as to why Snape was in the room with her but was distracted from her musings by Madame Pomfrey's bustling form, poking and prodding her.

"You seem a little weak, Miss Granger." She said and Hermione nodded. "I'll have the house-elves bring you something light to eat for now. You are not to leave this bed!"

"I hardly think that is a problem." Snape snorted derisively from the back. "Miss Granger is experiencing a bit of muscular weakness." Hermione looked at him questioningly.

"What was I hit with?" She was so confused now. She bit her lower lip and went through the events of the night it her head. Scanning the looks of the people around her, she could see that Harry seemed perfectly healthy, a little more fed than yesterday, but the same. Snape was the usual Snape though she thought she could see the wrinkles between his eyebrows diminishing slightly.

"We are unsure." Harry said and his eyebrows furrowed. Hermione ran her fingers through her long, light brown, curls, momentarily ignoring the fact that it was much shorter than usual until she heard Harry's gasp.

"What's happened?" She asked deadly quiet as she fingered her short curly hair. It had been cut to make it a little easier on Madame Pomfrey.

"How much do you remember?" Harry asked, wiping his eyes to prevent more tears from falling.

"Ron was hurt and I jumped in front of a curse to protect him. Then it all went black."

"Is that it?"

"I had a dream that I was taken away to Azkaban and I swear I must have been there for weeks before I was able to escape. It seemed so real, except whenever the Dementors would come around I couldn't feel the sadness as much as I remember. I felt that I would never escape but then I saw a light or sorts. I think it was a phoenix because it made me feel so much better."

"The reason it all went black was because Lucius cursed you."

"Who cut my hair?" She glanced around the room hoping to find a reason why her hair had to be cut. "I don't remember it being severed during the battle."

"Uhm…" Harry attempted to answer her question. That was when she looked across the room and saw her reflection in the mirror that had been placed in the wards when Gilderoy Lockhart had been there.

"How long has it been?" It all dawned on her that she had been asleep for a long time.

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_AN: Thank you loads for the reviews... they make me smile. Hopefully the story won't be dissapointing to anyone._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Inevitable Discovery**

"Enervate." Within seconds Hermione's eyes blinked open and she let out a frustrated groan.

"Why did I have to go to sleep again!" She screamed as she sat up in her bed and looked at Harry and Snape who were looming most uncharacteristically around her bed.

"You fainted." Harry said and then frowned.

"So, you tell me that Ron was okay. Where is he?" Hermione asked ignoring their worry. "I want to see my fiancé."

"Uhm…" Harry was once again speechless. "Ron's uhm…"

"He's fine. You told me this." Hermione was getting upset with worry but knew that there had to be a justifiable reason why he wasn't with her. "Answer me Harry, please. How long has it been?"

And of course, this was the time that Dobby decided to poke his head into the room and drop of a bowl of steaming vegetable soup before bowing low to Harry and disappearing into thin air. Hermione sneered at the bowl of soup, not feeling at all hungry at the moment.

"You should eat your food, Miss Granger." Snape said curtly before he pulled back on Harry's collar. "When you are finished, we will return." He yanked Harry out of the ward ignoring the protests from Hermione.

"She doesn't know she's been asleep for nearly a month!" Harry said in frustration as soon as Snape put a silencing charm on the Hospital doors. "And worse of all, Ron isn't here and I don't even know to go about explaining his behavior."

"Rest assured that it could be worse, Potter." Snape sneered and Harry glared at him.

"Yes 'rest assured' indeed. I don't know about you, but I happen to have a clue what it feels like to wake up and discover that someone no longer loves you!" Harry started to pace, as was his normal stressed behavior.

"I am not about to divulge my personal life to you, Potter, but at least little Miss Know-it-all is not dead!" Harry paled at the words.

"I don't honestly know which I would choose; death or heartbreak, but if Hermione is the way I remember her being, it is going to devastate her." Harry sat on a long bench just outside of Hospital wing. "Why do you care anyway!" Snape glared at him, hating the fact that he asked the one question he didn't know the answer to at the moment.

"Miss Granger saved my life during the war, it is the least I can do." Harry gaped silently at Snape and they sat in silence waiting a while to re-enter the room until they decided she must be finished.

* * *

"I've eaten the bland soup and I feel fine. There has got to be an explaination for all of this and I want it now!" Hermione glared at the two people before her curiously.

"You've been asleep for the past three and a half weeks." Snape said immediately, feeling obliged to answer her. Hermione gasped loudly and Harry winced, wishing that he did not have to experience her wrath.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THREE WEEKS!!" She threw her empty soup bowl across the room. 'Gryffindors', Severus deduced from her actions.

"Hermione." Harry said soothingly, going to her side to comfort but when he got within arms reach, she smacked him away. "Wait!"

"I have been asleep for nearly a month and I have no idea why, how it happened, and where my soon-to-be husband is and you want me to wait?" Hermione's voice was low with rage. "I expect you get his arse in here now!" Harry whispered something inaudible to Snape and he left the room on the search for Mr. Weasley.

"Hermione, you have got to trust me." She scoffed lightly. "Ron was worried when he found that you were hurt. He couldn't handle it much longer."

"That explains absolutely nothing, Harry. Now why don't you actually tell me what happened that night!" Harry sighed and frowned.

"Well, after the death eaters were wrangled up and you were put in the hospital wing, we realized that you weren't waking up. Madame Pomfrey tried everything. The wizarding world has been celebrating since then. Uhm…" He paused to ruffle his hair, "Me and Ron were by your bedside-"

"Ron and I-" Hermione interjected, hating the use of grammar.

"Yes. We were with you the first week and then Ron stopped coming because he couldn't handle it. Madame Pomfrey said it was all up to you to wake up and we didn't know if you would." Harry had tears forming in his eyes again. "I was so worried." Hermione leaned over and hugged Harry tightly and sighed into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Harry." She cried softly, trying to think of why she was asleep for so long, when they were interrupted by the opening of the door. "Ron!" Hermione screamed in joy at seeing her fiancé come into the room. He smiled awkwardly at her. Followed closely behind Ron was Lavender Brown and Snape.

"Hey He-Hermione." He stood a few meters away from her bed. Hermione noticed the severe scowl on Harry's face at seeing Lavender and wondered why.

"Come here." Hermione said, spreading her arms to accept a hug. "I missed you." Ron took a few steps forward her and then looked back towards Lavender. Hermione noticed this and dropped her arms.

"Hermione-"

"Ron, what is wrong?" She could see Harry shifting uncomfortably and Lavender stepped around Snape to stand closer to Ron.

"I had to move on." He said as Lavender wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled. Harry looked towards his feet and Severus was boring holes into Ron's head with his eyes. Hermione felt the hurt welling inside of her stomach.

"I-I," She took a few calming breaths, the tears falling from her face, "You," finding the words was a bit difficult for her. She looked skeptically at Lavender and then to Harry's solemn face.

"You gave up on me." She stated sadly and looked away from Harry, Lavender and Ron to see the unusually sad face of Severus Snape. That was when she lost it.

* * *

_AN: Hope you are enjoying, I know I am... I'll try and update soon._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: The Woes of Ronald Weasley**

The door slammed behind the two wizards as they ran into the hallway, one pulling on the other's shirt.

"Chill out!" Harry violently shoved Ron into the wall and held him firmly there.

"Did you see the look on her face!" He gave another forceful shove, feeling Ron's bones cracking under the pressure.

"Harry!"

"DID YOU!" Try as he might, Ron, who was in severe pain, could not escape his grasp. Lavender, who rushed out of the hospital wing shortly after Harry and Ron departed, finally stepped in.

"Leave him be!" She pushed her way through Harry, who had a firm grip on Ron's shirt, and placed herself in the middle. "He didn't mean to hurt her!" Harry's jaw dropped and he backed away, not believing what the most vain person he had ever met had said.

"She's right." Ron said, massaging his sore shoulders. "I wasn't trying to hurt her!"

"You could have waited, Ron. You could have tried to believe that she was going to be okay, but that wasn't convenient enough for you." Harry spoke quietly and the two struggled to hear him. "You and Hermione were inseparable before the final battle and a week after she goes unconscious, you want nothing to do with her." His voice was taking on a menacing quality to it.

"It's not really like that." Lavender added in her usual bubbly voice.

"No, it really is like that. He let his best friend think she is in love with him for six months, he let his best friend accept his inept proposal, and then he discards her when she fell ill. You aren't the person I thought you were and you're not the person I want to know." Harry walked away, ignoring his protests.

Ron looked at the retreating form of his best friend and tried to understand why he was so angry, but he couldn't figure it out. Hermione wasn't expected to wake up, was she? He did what he thought he should do and he found peace in someone else. Just because Hermione woke up, does not mean that he should stop being in love with Lavender.

* * *

Hermione watched as the two boys stormed out of the room. Lavender stood still, watching them exit, just as perky as usual and finally, decided to leave herself. Here she was, completely heartbroken and alone with Snape, no less.

"It could be worse." Snape said in a calm voice that was devoid of emotion and Hermione couldn't stand it much longer. She began to cry like she hadn't cried in ages. The emotion she felt filled the room. Snape could feel it reverberating around the room and was shocked. Instinctively he rushed to her bedside to try and calm her.

She quivered under his touch, but remained sobbing. He muttered a few calming words, despite his 'lack of concern' and tried to understand why she was feeling so miserably. He knew it was because of Weasley, but he thought for sure that Hermione would realize the blessing she was given.

Harry hadn't returned to the room and had left Snape up to his own devices. He spent the next two hours trying to calm her. Every time he stood to leave, the room would magically surge. Finally she calmed when Madame Pomfrey came back from her dinner break with a few potions. She told Hermione she was free to go in the morning if she had a good night's sleep and she gave her a dreamless sleep potion.

Severus returned to his dungeons, wondering when she would realize how lucky she was to have escaped that marriage. Her unconsciousness could have very well been the biggest blessing ever bestowed to her and she didn't even realize it.

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_AN: Seriously, the reviews are amazing and I cherish every last one of them. I hope to review soon and sorry this chapter is so short._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Curses**

Minerva McGonagall woke from her slumber to the most horrid, heartbreakingly, painful, sound. She pulled the ear covers of her tartan sleeping cap down to cover her ears, but to no dismay, the sound reverberated around the room in terrifying loudness.

She slipped on her night shoes and began to follow the noise to where it began. She was nearing the Great Hall when she saw that the rest of the castle had also been awakened by the horrid noise. They all walked curiously, with their ears covered, to where the noise was coming from. When they reached the infirmary, they knew that this was the place the screaming was come from. They opened the door to see Severus Snape leaning over the writhing body of Hermione Granger.

"Severus, whatever is the matter with her?" Minerva said as she cast a silencing charm around her body so that the rest of the group no longer had to deal with the noise. Snape inwardly wondered why he hadn't thought of doing such a thing as his ears were still ringing.

"I was in the hospital wing to put some energy restorative potions in the hospital stores," he lied efficiently, "I couldn't sleep well. That is when I heard her screaming. I don't know what the matter is."

Surprisingly enough, Poppy Pomfrey still had not been awakened from the screaming unlike the rest of the school. She came sauntering out, sleepiness in her eyes.

"What is going on? Why is the whole bloody school in my hospital ward?!" She rushed to push everyone out of the room, besides Harry, Minerva and Severus.

"She seems to be in a lot of pain." Harry said dully as he stared at her. She was still writhing but nobody knew what to do.

"Severus, quickly go and brew the antidote to the sleeping potion! The infirmary supply is gone." Madame Pomfrey moved to the young girl's side as Severus rushed out of the room. She began to dab a damp cloth to her forehead.

"Why is she acting like this?" Minerva asked as she held back Harry from disrupting Madame Pomfrey.

"We will find out soon enough when that blasted man gets back here!" Never in the thirty years Madame Pomfrey had worked in the school had she been as worked up as she was now. At that moment, Severus rushed in with a vial of a yellowish liquid. Madame Pomfrey opened her mouth and magically siphoned the liquid out of the vial and aided it down Hermione's throat.

Hermione sputtered lightly and then awoke with a gasp. She went to speak but it was muted due to the silencing charm. After Minerva released the charm and Hermione had taken a sip of water, she began to speak again.

"It was the dream again!" She gulped more water down. Her voice was hoarse from the overuse. "It was so much worse. The dementors were there and I was reliving the day mum and dad died!" She began to cry and Harry moved over to hug her and tell her it was alright. The rest in the room looked at each other in curiosity.

"Excuse us, Miss Granger, we will be back shortly." Minerva said as she pulled Severus out of the room. Madame Pomfrey began shuffling through different potions to find a throat lozenge.

"Severus, what could have caused these dreams?" She asked, her voice laced with concern. "Every time she sleeps, she is put in Azkaban?! It all makes no sense." Severus looked thoughtfully at the ground, fiddling his hands.

"It has to be the curse that Lucius put on her." He turned away from McGonagall to look towards the infirmary. "I think the sleeping potion intensified the dream."

"Why didn't we hear it until now? She had been sleeping for hours prior to now. Why was she allowed sleep at all?"

"I think it has to do with the composition of the sleeping potion. When ingested the valerian roots immediately affect the body, allowing immediate sleep. Not until later does the affect of sopophorus allow the person to not dream. I think whatever curse he placed on her, not only makes her have terrible dreams, but prevents anyone from stopping the dreams from coming."

"What are we going to do? She is going to have to sleep sometime!"

"I don't know, Minvera!" He snapped and walked into the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey cocked her head up.

"So?"

"Whatever you do, do not give her another sleeping draught." He snapped. "I will be in my lab." He left, his robes swaying behind him. Minerva watched her two favorite Gryffindors with worry. Harry was gently stroking Hermione's hair and whispering words of comfort.

"We think it was the curse." Minerva whispered to Madame Pomfrey. "We don't understand the curse, but I think Miss Granger will have some difficulty sleeping until the counter-curse is found." Hermione had begun to settle down and was lying by herself on the hospital bed, her eyes still red and puffy from the tears.

"What is wrong?" Harry asked the two elder witches and they only shrugged their shoulders.

* * *

In the comforts of his dark and damp dungeons, Severus began sorting through his many different books, hoping to find a few that could aid him in discovering Hermione's ailment. He had a definite feeling that the curse was dark magic, but then again, any spell could be dark magic if used to harm.

He pulled another book from the shelf and skimmed the index, then finally slamming it shut when he did not find what he was looking for. He did this for the next hour before he was distracted by a knocking at his door.

"What is it, Mr. Potter?" He glared at the boy he had loathed for much of the last eight years.

"Hermione." He said simply and Severus led him into his rooms, much to Harry's surprise. "Do you need any help?" He asked dumbly and Snape almost laughed.

"I am not certain you could help me, Mr. Potter, but if you consider yourself useful, you could try and relay a little bit of what happened that night." Harry ran his fingers through his hair, making it even more unruly. Severus scowled, remembering that Harry's father, James, did the same thing.

"I was a little tired, Sir." He said and Snape sighed.

"Then you cannot help me."

"Can I try?" Severus gestured for him to start looking through the many different books.

"You find anything that has to do with nightmares, mark it." Harry nodded and began shuffling through the huge amount of books.

"I used to think that Mione' had the most books anyone could possibly own," he scoffed playfully, "but you win, Sir." Severus' eyebrow raised in what Harry could almost consider a friendly sort of questioning.

* * *

_AN: And yes, Snape and Harry have met an understanding of sorts... more to come soon. Thanks for the reviews. Smiles._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: What to do, What to do?**

Hermione lay awake the entire night, not even trying to go to sleep because she knew that she would have the horrible dream again. She couldn't remember anything more than diving in front of that curse to save Ron. The thought alone brought tears to her eyes. She blinked willing the tears to fall down her face.

She had only been out for three weeks. A lot can happen in three weeks, but she didn't think that she and Ron's 'love' could diminish that quickly. He was always there to hug and protect her before the war. He even seemed to have sincerely cared about her. He used to spend hours watching her read her books or search for horcruxes. She thought he admired her for who she was: Hermione Jane Granger, bookworm extraordinaire. She thought that for once in her life that someone cared for her despite the fact that she was ugly, awkward and intelligent. But no.

She found out the hard way that she and Ron only existed together for him. Ron asked her to marry him because he didn't think either of them was going to make it out of the war. He thought that at least one of them was going to die and that, if they were engaged, at least they would be happy for a little while longer. Hermione couldn't believe her once best friend had betrayed her in that way. He had moved on and found happiness in Lavender and now she was alone again, as she expected to be for the rest of her life. 'Who would ever love Hermione 'know-it-all' Granger?' She thought pitifully as she tossed and turned in her cot-like bed.

Little to her knowledge, a man stood at the opposite end of the infirmary draped in an invisibility cloak, watching the display in sadness. He took another careful glance at her before he left to the kitchens. He fetched a bottle of pumpkin juice and a few muffins that he was unsure whether or not she would even enjoy. He also fetched a few plates and glasses as he headed back up to the infirmary. This time, he entered quietly, without the cloak.

Hermione heard the entrance and quickly feigned sleeping, hoping that whoever it was would just leave her alone to wallow in misery.

"I know you wouldn't dare try to fall asleep with such dreams, Miss Granger." She heard a deep and silky voice speak behind her. She turned around to see the dark eyes of her former potions professor staring at her.

"I could live with the dream as long as the dementors didn't affect me like they did the last time. Why would someone put a curse like this on me?" She could feel the tears beginning to escape. Snape could see and handed her a handkerchief. She accepted it, wondering why he was acting so kind to her, and dabbed her eyes.

"Lucius Malfoy is a terrible man, not to mention he was aiming it at Mr. Weasley." Hermione let out a small hiccup at hearing his name and used the handkerchief again.

"I want to understand why you think it was good that he left me, but I can't." She said, explaining her actions.

"Never mind, Hermione." He inwardly gasped at saying her name, but she obviously didn't notice it, so the same unreadable expression was displayed across his face.

"Looks like I won't be sleeping much, now." She could see the sun rising in the sky through the infirmary windows.

"Unless you brave the nightmares." He said and took out the muffins and juice. "I thought you might want some real food." She smiled at his unusual thoughtfulness, and although she wasn't really hungry, couldn't deny his niceness to her.

"Thank you." She took a bite out of a muffin and a few sips of the pumpkin juice. "I will probably not have much of a choice in the long run than to brave the nightmares. I have to sleep sometime."

"Very true. I am afraid that the spell may actually gain in severity the more you sleep though. You don't remember anything Lucius had said, do you?"

"Not really, but maybe I could collect the memories through a pensieve?"

"It's a good thought." He praised her and she blushed furiously, having received one of the very few praises the once evil teacher, offered. "Perhaps I could also get Potter's and maybe reconstruct a little of the incantation to discover the counter-curse."

"I hope so." He grabbed his own muffin and bit into it. Hermione smiled at his friendliness and wondered why he was being so kind to her. He had comforted her on many occasions throughout the last few weeks. It surprised her greatly, how kind he could be.

"Me too, Hermione." He spoke, before he had time to stop himself. 'Damn, I said it again!' Once again, she didn't notice or react to her first name in any way. "Well, I best be off to research. Madame Pomfrey did say that you were free to leave this morning. Perhaps you would care to help me do a little research?" Her eyebrows raised slightly at the offer.

"Perhaps a little later, sir." He nodded and left gracefully.

* * *

Hermione lay in that morning, not willing herself to leave the bed for the sheer misery she felt. She was disrupted from her thoughts yet again, this time by Harry.

"Hey 'Mione, how are you feeling?" She looked at him and saw the caring in his eyes. It momentarily reminded her of the caring she saw in Ron's eyes every now and then. The difference though, was that Harry's caring was unconditional.

"Sleepy. But other than that, I am fine."

"What are you doing still in the hospital wing?" He sat down next to her bed. Her shorter hair was messy from resting on it and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Brooding." Harry snorted in laughter and Hermione looked at him seriously.

"Come on, 'Mione, no acting like Snape." He reached for her hand to comfort her.

"Oh, Harry, I just feel so worthless!"

"Ron's a prat! We both know this." Hermione could feel her eyes welling up in sadness and Harry rubbed her hand comfortingly.

"Yes, Ron's a prat, and I am still not good enough for him!" She said miserably turning over so she didn't have to look at Harry. Harry walked over to the other side of the bed and kneeled so that he was level with her gaze.

"This has nothing to do with you, Hermione Jane Granger. You are perfect the way you are and I wouldn't want you any other way. You are the best sister a man could ever dream to have!" Hermione let even more tears fall down her face. "Ronald Weasley is a man all about himself. He is the one that lost you. Do you really think that Lavender Brown is a better person than you?" Hermione shook her head.

"She prettier than I am though." Harry placed his index finger across her lips.

"If I didn't feel like your older brother, than I would be all over you myself." Hermione giggled lightly, her laughter even seemed sad. "Lavender is all cosmetic charms and fake. You are a true beauty."

"You're just saying that. No, I'm hideous."

"Oh, I see how it is. You're just fishing for compliments." She swatted him playfully. "Hermione, you are beautiful, smart and Ron isn't good enough for you." Hermione smiled half-heartedly and tired to believe Harry, but she had a feeling it would take a little longer.

"Thanks." He brushed it off like he did everything. He kills the most powerful wizard known to man and the next day, he takes out the garbage. He was no doubt the most modest person Hermione had ever met.

"Let's go see what Snape is up to?" Harry suggested and Hermione raised her eyebrows, never expecting that to come from Harry's mouth.

"He did want to know if I would help."

"Even Snape thinks you're smart." She blushed as he stood from the bedside. "Well, I'll let you get dressed and showered, then I'll meet you in the Great Hall in a few minutes, okay?"

"Sounds good." She smiled and Harry went to leave. "Harry?" He stopped in his tracks and turned to her, smiling.

"Hmm?"

"You're the brother I never had and always wanted." He smiled and left the room. Hermione changed and met up with him as planned.

* * *

_AN: This was a little longer than the last. I hope I am not boring anyone with the Hermione sob stories (they will be ending soon), but I doubt that even Hermione would get over it quickly. Hopefully you are enjoying. Thank you for the reviews. Smiles._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: A day later…**

Nearly thirty-four hours after Hermione's diagnoses was made that she was cursed to have nightmares, she found herself incapable of staying awake any longer. She had no choice. She had to sleep in order to survive as the Pepper-up potions only worked for so long. It wasn't difficult for her to fall asleep either, Harry and Snape soon found at, after watching her lay her head on the hospital bed and her eyes quickly drift close.

"How are we going to find the counter-curse?" Harry asked worriedly. "She's not going to last forever like this."

"I'm unsure. We've been pouring ourselves through books and books, yet there hasn't even been a curse mentioned that has the same effect."

"So?" He looked over at Snape and raised an eyebrow.

"So what, Potter?" They had a staring contest of sorts before Harry gave up and looked back to Hermione. Mirroring his actions, Snape followed his gaze until his fell upon her petite form.

"I think I'll leave it to you to watch her this time." Harry said, not really wanting to leave Hermione, but knowing, somehow, that Snape would want to be with her.

"Why don't you go and do something useful?" He said and momentarily regretted it.

"Such as?"

"Do you think you can brew some pepper-up potion?" Harry sneered.

"Never did I think you would think I could brew anything, Sir, but I assure you, I can brew the third level potion perfectly well. I had the most brilliant best friend and you see, she helped me all the time." Snape made a gesture that clearly stated that he wanted to smile, but couldn't bring his face muscles around to smiling for the embodiment of his childhood enemy.

"Use the students' lab. The ingredients can be found in the storeroom."

"Okay." He walked up to Hermione and squeezed her hand gently. "I'll see you later, Mione." He kissed her forehead lightly and began to leave the room.

"The password is 'Raven'," Severus said to Harry as he left the wing. He walked over to Hermione and conjured a chair so he could sit next to her.

"I don't know what to do, Hermione." He whispered quietly as he reached out for her hand and squeezed tightly. "I wish I did, but I don't." He rested his head on her sleeping form, willing himself to have a short nap.

**

* * *

**

"So?" Harry asked as he walked into the room to see Hermione sitting up.

"I had a horrible dream, as was expected, but I could handle it." She said as she frowned. "For now, at least."

"Were you still in Azkaban?"

"Yes, in the same cell, actually." Severus looked over her, making sure she was as fine as she said she was.

"Potter brewed you some pepper-up potion, that is if you need it." Hermione smiled affectionately at Harry and Severus inwardly wished that she would give a few smiles like that to him.

"You were allowed to brew me a potion." She opened her arms for Harry to give her a hug and Harry rushed over. "I'm so proud of you." He pulled out the vial of purple liquid. "Oh Harry, it looks perfect!"

"I'm a little more advanced than a third year, you know Mione."

"I know." She smiled. "Now do I have to stay in this ward? I've slept quite enough and although I've been having horrible nightmares, it's not like I am about to break." Harry laughed.

"Of course. We'll let you get changed." Severus nodded as he left the room.

"Meet me in the Great Hall?" Hermione nodded, causing Harry to grin.

* * *

"I've been through so many books already!" Harry whined from his sid of the room. Hermione and Severus were sitting on the other side, closest to the bookshelves, reading in comfortable silence.

"Why can't you just learn that reading doesn't have to be a chore and that it is actually fun?" Hermione said, not pulling her eyes off the large tome on her lap.

"It isn't fun to me." Harry said as he closed the book and set it gently on the table nearest him.

"Well, it's fun to me." Hermione smiled lightly.

"I second that." Snape remarked dryly.

"I wish you didn't make me sit all the time. I would love to be able to do something every now and then." Hermione said, wiggling her legs for a little movement to ensure that she could still walk.

"We are ensuring that you do not waste your energy in anyway short of wheeling you around in a wheelchair."

"Wheelchair?" Severus asked, his interests piqued.

"Muggle contraption." Hermione said, finally shutting her book and looking around. They had decidedly used the Room of Requirement to do their research. It made sure that nobody's personal space was invaded and it supplied them with plenty of books.

"I see."

"Anyone want to call the house-elves for some dinner?" Harry asked as he began to pace the room.

"I wouldn't object." Snape said, still reading through his book.

"I hate using them like that, Harry. They can't help that they are enslaved."

"They like to do stuff for us, Hermione." Harry consoled.

"And that is what is oppressing them." Hermione huffed in annoyance, hoping that maybe Snape would enter the conversation, but he never did. All Harry had to do was think of a house-elf before Dobby appeared.

"What would you like for dinner, Harry Potter, sir?"

"How about a little of everything?"

"Anything for Harry Potter." Quickly later, Dobby appeared with trays and trays of food that they would never be able to finish.

"Harry! Look what you've done!" Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Do you know how many people all of this food could feed? There are homeless children around the world without food and here you are ordering servants around and dining on a spectacular feast." Hermione was so passionate, that even Snape had taken his eyes off of his book. Harry looked sheepishly at the ground.

"I didn't mean for Dobby to bring so much food." He answered meekly and Hermione backed down.

"I know, Harry. I just wish that there was more that wizards can do to help those who need it." Severus couldn't help but feel a strange sense of pride in her actions. Even though she was suffering horrible dreams, running on little to no sleep for the last week or so, at a loss for a fiancé and dealing with the usual stresses of being a teenager, she was still worrying about things she had no control over.

"Okay, let's not let the food turn cold now." Severus spoke quietly from in the corner and moved to the newly appeared table to set it for everyone to eat. "Shall we?" They all ate in companionable silence, pondering their next plans quietly to themselves.

"I have a feeling that me and Harry's memories of that night might help to forward our search." Hermione spoke suddenly through the silence that had filled the room.

"I agree." Severus mused, having been thinking along the same lines.

"I'll go get the pensieve." Harry said and left the table, having already finished his food.

"The pensieve?" Snape asked.

"Yes. Professor Dumbledore left it to him when he died. How else did you think we discovered your innocence?"

"I had no clue how you did, Hermione, let alone how you proved it to anyone else."

"You mean you didn't know about the memory Professor Dumbledore left?"

"No, I didn't. What did it have in it?"

"Him forcing you to give an unbreakable vow. I can't believe he didn't tell you. He let you believe that you were giving up your life?"

"Quite frankly, yes." Hermione looked at him sadly.

"And you would have done that?"

"Without question." Hermione smiled lightly and it was these smiles that had Severus sitting by her bedside waiting for her to wake.

"I think there is a little Gryffindor in you that you are unwilling to recognize, Professor Snape." Snape couldn't help but smile at her.

"I only recognize my Gryffindor side when I am completely plastered." Hermione laughed and it was music to Severus' ears. "You don't have to call me Professor Snape anymore. I haven't been your professor in quite some time."

"Okay." She couldn't help but blush in the situation she was in.

"I believe it is I that will be with you later on tonight to help keep you awake a little longer."

"Oh, okay." She smile friendly as Harry walked into the room carrying the large stone basin.

"This thing weighs a ton!" Harry said as it plopped down onto a desk.

"Why didn't you levitate it?" Hermione asked and Severus nearly started laughing at Harry's complete daftness.

"As much as you believe me to be a complete idiot, I couldn't cast it. It wouldn't let me." Severus looked curiously at the basin and raised his eyebrows.

"I guess someone didn't want it to be moved so easily. These Latin encryptions make it impossible to spell the object lighter."

"That makes sense." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. "Why would Dumbledore want something as important as his pensieve to be easily stolen?"

"He wouldn't." Harry said. "Well, I guess Hermione can draw her memory first and then I'll do mine." Hermione placed her wand to her forehead, extracting a silver thread of a memory. She placed it into a glass jar that Snape had conjured. Harry followed her actions and when they had successfully retrieved the memories, Harry bid the two goodnight.

"Yeah, goodnight to you too." Hermione said bitterly, thinking that she would give just about every material possession she owned to have restful nights.

"Sorry Mione."

"Don't worry about it." She left the pensieve and went to sit in a maroon wingback chair.

"I'm just going to slip into these memories to see what I can glean from them. I'll see you shortly." Snape said as he lowered himself into Harry's memory first.

"Good luck." Hermione whispered.

* * *

_AN: Next Chapter should have a bit of the Final Battle memories, as well as conversation between Hermione and Severus about a certain daft redhead... Thanks for the reviews, Smiles._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Lost in Translation**

Severus found himself floating through the memory of one Harry Potter. The night was, of course, very dark. You couldn't have a final battle with a bunch of sunlight, daisies and happiness. He was fighting off many curses, throwing many curses himself, and overall, doing quite a good job at defending the side of the light. As much as he hated to admit it, Harry was good at playing the hero role.

He could faintly see Hermione in the distance fighting alongside Neville and Ron. He saw Neville quickly fall to the ground after aiming a curse and hitting Rudolfus Lestrange. He died quite simply from a severing charm. Hermione looked at the sight in horror, but continued fighting her heart out. That was when Voldemort made his appearance. Snape still cringed at seeing his face.

The memories of forcing fake servitude to the man made him sick to his stomach. He could see Harry, Ron and Hermione form an alliance of sorts in the middle of the field, saying an incantation that he remembered watching Hermione research one night while she borrowed his library. She spent a good month and a half finding the curse that would unite Harry and his friends love for each other together to form the ultimate power.

He watched Ron jump in front of Lucius' cruciatus curse and the display of magic it took for Harry to cast the simple spell to destroy Voldemort. He watched as the Dark Lord ceased to exist and then he saw Harry smiling. Finally the moment he was waiting for came into play. He could see Ron lying on the floor, Lucius' anger building up like it always did before he exploded and then he saw him aim his wand.

"_Sonno in pieno di pace in morte_!" He watched as Hermione foolishly jumped in front of the red beam of light. He cringed, knowing exactly what the curse did. He, having found out what he needed to know, extracted himself from the memory to find Hermione waiting patiently for him.

"Did you figure it out?" She asked when she saw his pale form.

"Yes." He could feel the bile rising in his throat. "It's not good." He, as gracefully as one could, ran from the room to the bathroom and watched as half of his lunch was thrown out of his stomach.

"Severus?" She knew that the Room of Requirement made the bathroom just recently, because she couldn't remember it being there. She heard the retching from where she stood, but didn't understand what could have made him so sick.

Snape washed his face quickly and cleaning any mess that he might have made, glancing to see his pale reflection in the mirror before opening the door.

"I know why you are having horrible dreams, Hermione." He said sadly and carefully led her into the other room.

"Are you familiar with Italian incantations?"

"No, but I do know that the language in which spells are spoken affect the way they are cast. You should have seen what happened to my dad when I accidentally called for my shoes in French." Severus couldn't help but smile at her silly mistake.

"Yes. The language changes the curse indefinitely. The problem with Italian curses in particular is that no matter what, there is no way to reverse Italian curses. Little to many wizards at Hogwarts, it is illegal to actually cast curses in Italian as the affects can be disastrous. As we hardly ever have Italian speaking students grace our halls (they tend to go to Scuola magica), we don't have to explain the rule. Besides, most students don't even care and if they did know about it, they would probably make up really terrible curses. But, the problem is that Lucius, on a trip to Italy when he was a kid, found out about the effect of Italian curses and quickly took up the language. The curse that Lucius used on you was Italian, Hermione." Hermione felt her skin go pale and could feel the tears falling down her face.

"So I will never be able to sleep again." Severus could see her distress and didn't want to give her false hope, but decided to anyway.

"If we do a lot of intensive research, we may find a cure, or loophole." Hermione could see right through his lies.

"You aren't fooling me. What did he say?!" Hermione looked at him, scandalized that he would lie to her but knowing that he was doing it to make her happy.

"_Sonno in pieno di pace in morte_. It means…"

"Sleep peacefully only in death." Hermione said sadly as she looked at Snape. "My parents, along with being muggle dentists, prided themselves on their linguistic skills. I know French, German, Mandarin Chinese and Latin as well." She sighed and looked at him. "My life just keeps getting worse. It's never going to stop, is it?"

"You've got to think on the bright side." He said as Hermione found herself plopped in a nearby chair, crying her eyes out as Snape watched in horror.

"That's easy for you to say, Professor!" She shouted, balling her fists. "You didn't lose your fiancé, ability to sleep, and most of your sanity in a month!" His mouth went dry, seeing the pain she was in.

"I do know what if feels like." He knelt next to her in the chair and grabbed one of her hands. "I was engaged once. Most people don't know about it, but I was with someone and she ended up leaving me for a rich man with a pureblooded background. She left me at the altar. She didn't even care that I had spent away all of my savings on the wedding, she just packed up and left. I know what it feels like to lose someone." He said quietly. He could see her crying dissipate.

"What did you do about it? How did you go on from her? I thought he loved me. I thought we were going to be happy forever. How do I just forget all those dreams and move on with my life?" Hermione sighed and sat up straighter. Snape was still kneeled beside her. Seeing that he looked uncomfortable, she conjured a chair for him to sit across from her in. "Ron was one of my best friends and he was one of Harry's best friends. Now, after only a month, it's back to just Harry and me. I can tell Harry is missing Ron, but I am so angry with Ron that I would rather he suffer than get to be friends with Harry again."

"I understand this better than you think. When my fiancé," He paused to clear out his throat, an action Hermione assumed was a defense mechanism he used to get rid of the sadness he felt addressing the issue, "left me all those years back, she was my best friend. The person she left me for was also a very close friend. As soon as she left, they both left. As I am sure, you are aware that your 'evil potions master' doesn't have many friends. That is why."

"Who was it?"

"Narcissa Black, well Malfoy now." He nodded his head under her intense gaze.

"They were your best friends!"

"In my youth, yes they were. I was a Slytherin, Hermione." She just gaped at him.

"I'm sorry." She said with a sigh. The best thing she could think to do was change the subject. "Even if I get over Ron, how am I ever going to be able to sleep peacefully again?" She asked as tactfully as a Gryffindor could and Severus was happy that she decided to put an end to the subject.

"Now that we know what kind of curse it is, we can do a little more research. Another quality of Italian curses is that they can sometimes be changed when another curse is cast."

"To sort of neutralize the affect?"

"It does kind of work that way, Hermione." That was when Hermione first noticed that he used her first name.

"When did you start calling me Hermione?" She asked out of the blue and Severus would have blushed had he not already scolded himself for calling her the name in the first place.

"A while now; did you just notice?" He said casually and she smiled.

"Yes, I suppose so. You said I no longer had to call you Professor, so does that mean I get to call you S-Severus." He couldn't help but smile at hearing her say his name in her beautiful voice.

"Yes, of course." He stood from the chair and went over to the bookcase, "Unless you wish to call me something other than that." Hermione shook her head, mentally laughing at the thought of a pet name of sorts to call her surly potions master.

"No, Severus is a lovely name." He could feel the blush rising but luckily he was facing towards the bookshelf.

"I guess your language skills will come in handy when deciphering these." He pulled out three large tomes written in Italian. Hermione sighed.

"So, if Italian curses are permanent, does that mean that Italian witches and wizards have to learn to speak a different language when casting spells?"

"Yes. They usually learn French or Spanish, though that isn't a problem for most Italians witches and wizards as their families have been speaking the languages for centuries. Only does it become a problem with muggleborn Italians as they haven't already been warned of the consequence of speaking Italian curses and are forced to learn a new language when it is time for them to go to school."

"I see. It's good my parents were English speaking first and foremost." Snape nodded and sat down at one of the seats to begin reading. Hermione started the task of decoding the important information. The night dragged on, but they both felt a little more content to be with each other.

* * *

_AN: Let me first say that I am not a linguist and I use very cheap free translations from the Internet. The spell Lucius used means 'Sleep pacifically in a dead women' according to the translation, although I put 'sleep peacefully only in death' into the space require. Oh well… hopefully the utter improperness of the sentences offends no one. I really love the reviews and sorry it has taken forever to update this story. I hope to take less time in the future. Smiles._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: A Severe Beating**

Hermione could only stare into the dark bricks that surrounded her. The room was damp and cold. Her body was shivering involuntarily as she willed her eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the room. All of a sudden, a bright light flashed into the room, blinding her.

"Get up!!" The grim sounding man yelled to Hermione. She swear she would have vomited from the smell of his voice had she had anything in her stomach. Hermione tried her hardest to pull herself to her feet, but she was incapable. She felt the rough arms of her captor pulling her up painfully. She winced, feeling his nails digging into her dirty skin.

Her eyes had not adjusted to the amount of light just yet, so she felt completely helpless. It didn't matter that she had thirty pounds of metal chains hanging off of her; she would be able to get anywhere blinded. He pulled her through the long and winded halls. She could hear the screams of the many prisoners around her. They seemed to be in so much pain. Every now and then, she would hear the snap of a whip or the sound of bones cracking under pressure and she couldn't help but develop a sense of fear as to what was going to happen to her.

Finally, he let loose her arms and she felt herself falling quickly to the ground in a large heap. She felt her left wrist crack under the pressure of her body and herself screaming from the pain. The man who had brought her here quickly took out his wand and a magical whip lashed her in the back. The pain was immense. She felt as the blood slowly trickled out of the wound in her back.

"Granger, what brings you here?" A man whose voice she recognized immediately questioned her.

"Lucius!" She screamed in anger and he began to laugh evilly.

"You dare speak my given name, you wench!" He spat after his little fit of laughter, gesturing to the man to whip her again. This time she held back the pain, trying not to give him the pleasure of seeing her in pain.

"You are far to brave for your own good little Gryffindor brat!" Lucius sneered. "I doubt you will be able to keep down your screams with this." He raised his wand.

"HERMIONE!" She was being shaken. She could feel a piece of parchment stuck to her face and something wet dripping from her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. She was about to take out her wand to inspect who moved her when she tried to bend her wrist, but felt immense pain.

"Ow!" She screamed loudly as she grabbed her other wrist and immediately felt a flashing of intense pain in her back.

"Hold still, you fell asleep." Severus said soothingly as he gently cut her shirt open to reveal her lashed back. She reddened at the thought of him seeing her bare back, but knew that she was in too much pain to reject. "You've been lashed in your dream, haven't you?"

"Yes." She whimpered feeling the pain making her head spin. "He almost cast the cruciatus in my dream!" She said in pure fear. Severus could not help but wince at the mention of Hermione having the curse cast upon her. She was so innocent, so pure. Sure, she had endured just as much in the war as anyone else, but she was so delicate in his eyes that it made him want to murder Lucius.

"Do you trust me?" He whispered quietly and Hermione instinctively nodded. "I am going to heal your wounds. Madame Pomfrey went on a visit to her brother's."

"Okay." She could feel her tears trailing down her face. She could also see black ink dripping from her hair. She must have looked a mess. She could hear him casting an elaborate spell. Her back felt as though she were being tickled by silk string. Finally, when he was done, she couldn't feel much pain anymore. Her skin felt a little stretched but the same as it usually did.

Snape cast 'reparo' on her shirt and went around to kneel in front of her, taking her fragile wrist in his hands.

"I think it's broken. I fell on it in my dream." Hermione could actually see a bit of emotion portrayed on her seemingly emotionless ex-professor.

"I am afraid I don't know how to heal bones very well. We will have to place it in a sling." Hermione nodded. It didn't seem so strange to have to do that. She had broken her wrist before while riding her bicycle. She had a cast on her arm for a good two months.

"That's okay." She said meekly, feeling uneasy under his intense gaze. The sides of his mouth slowly turned upwards in what could only be deemed a small smile. "I look a wreck, don't I?" She said, trying to smile, despite the sadness she felt about her dream. He took his wand and 'scourgified' her hair. She let out a small chuckle.

"I take it that you have fallen asleep on top of your schoolwork before?"

"Many times before." She smiled. Snape conjured a long piece of stretching fabric to wrap her wrist in. She watched as he intently covered her wrist, determined not to cause her any pain and handling it as though it were priceless crystal.

"I don't know how much sleep you got in there, but from what I could tell, physical injuries in your dreams affect you in real life. Who was doing this to you?"

"Lucius and his guards at Azkaban. It was so horrible." She could feel more tears threatening to fall. Before she could even take in what was happening, Severus had her wrapped in his arms, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort. She was surprised by his actions, but she felt so at peace in his arms, that it wasn't worth interrupting.

"It's going to be okay, Hermione. I think I found a way to reverse this." He looked at her shimmering eyes and felt every inhibition in him flying away. He could see the peace she felt in his arms and he couldn't help it. Before he knew it, he could feel himself moving closer and closer to her, until his lips pressed against her own.

Hermione relaxed into the tender kiss. His free hand came up to run through her hair and her heart was screaming just how wonderful it felt, but her mind was telling her 'No, no, no.' Before she could stop her unwilling mind, she broke away from the kiss quickly, startling Severus.

He could feel his face reddening at the look of shock on her face. Was he just imagining her initial response and warm welcome?

"No, I can't. I still love Ron!" She said as she stood quickly from the spot. "I'm so sorry, Severus. I love Ron!" He could feel his heart falling quickly to the floor. She was still in love with the man that left her. Granted it had only been a week since he broke it off with her, to her knowledge, but he would have thought she had at least cared about him a bit.

"No, that's alright, Miss Granger." He said in his usual business tone of voice and just hearing the tone made Hermione want to cry. She just hurt a man that was acting so caring for her and trying to save her life. "Well, I suppose I should inform you of my method on fixing our dilemma to hopefully shorten the amount of time we will be around each other." He stood from his spot, looking at her with disdain, trying as hard as he could to hide the wave of sadness.

* * *

_AN: Hermione just has to be so complicated... I'm sorry for the long delay... I hope to update soon. Spring Break is also coming up quickly!! Thanks for the reviews. Smiles_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Delving Deeper**

Hermione asked Severus to leave to get some rest after she assured him that she would be fine. She decided that she needed to time to think about her strange actions earlier that night and the only way she could accomplish anything was if she was alone. She watched as he retreated out of the room, her shoulders slumping under the weight of her actions and how much sadness she had caused the seemingly unaffected professor. She knew she had hurt him and she had felt terrible, but she didn't know what to think about it all. Everything had changed so much that she didn't know what to make of the strange events unfolding around her.

The week started out with the revelation that Voldemort was gone for good, and then she had been out for nearly a month, and during that period, lost one of her best friends and fiancé, to an ex-friend. And then… Severus Snape.

The world had shifted under the weight of the night Voldemort had been killed. It was a good shift for most, but somehow, Hermione ended up getting the short straw and was now the saddest and most deeply confused she had ever been. She now had a curse that threatened to end her life in a terribly torturing way unless she worked together with a man that was now clearly very upset with her and come tomorrow, would not be able to stand a few minutes time alone in her presence.

She wiped away the tears that had unknowingly escaped from her eyes. Maybe she did feel something towards the man that once had made her life miserable. She couldn't imagine all-out loving him after only a week of caring that she had only received from her spoiling grandparents, but she felt herself feeling something akin to love. Gratitude, maybe?

Walking through the halls of Hogwarts was always a favorite for Hermione. Hogwarts was currently being rebuilt from the war. The school was in awful shape and it made her happy to know that there were people that cared enough to spend their time working on the school. Harry was one of them. It takes great magical strength to rebuild a school that is magically held together. She looked on sadly at the fallen walls outside the Great Hall. She opened the doors to the school and walked out to sit on the front steps of Hogwarts.

It was dark outside. Hermione had no clue what time it was and did not wish to find out for fear of it making her feel tired. She knew it was sometime between midnight and six in the morning. It was definitely closer to the six mark as she was beginning to hear birds chirp and could almost make out a slight lightening of the clouds. She sat in silence trying to review in her head the plan of action according to Severus.

She winced slightly at the sound of the name floating through her head. 'He probably wants me to call him 'Professor' again.' She thought and couldn't fight the sigh that escaped soon after.

According to plans, they were going to have to find a spell that gives restfulness in sleep. That part was the easy part to understand. The hard part was going to be the conversion from English to Italian and then the removal of certain aspects of the spell. If it remained the way it was, just in Italian, then it would have the same affect as a sleeping potion would, except permanent, due to the sleep inducing properties of the spell. How exactly do you perform a spell that helps to induce sleep without having the spell contain the sleep inducing properties of the spell? It all seemed impossible, but Hermione knew that if there was a way to solve the riddle, she and Severus were capable of it. She knew he was easily the most intelligent person she had ever met, and she wasn't called the smartest witch of her age for no reason.

It would be difficult for sure, and even more so with the tension that lay in blankets between her and the Professor. She wished that her brain would just allow her to forget the loyalty that she was supposed to feel towards Ron. She didn't have to show that sort of loyalty anymore; He certainly wasn't. It was only a matter of time before the two announced the date of their wedding and the birth of their first child. She could feel the tears threatening to fall again. She should be the one that is happily engaged still. She risked her life for her fiancé and she should be the one he is hopelessly in love with. She was so distracted in her many thoughts that she failed to notice the raved haired young man sit next to her.

She was resting her head on her knees when she first smelled him. Her head perked up instantly and she felt herself immediately leaning into his arms.

"Harry…" She said as she began crying into his shoulder. He gently rubbed his hands along her back and massaged her shoulders gently before slowly pulling her away from him and tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"Hermione, are you okay?" He asked sweetly looking directly into her eyes. She shook her head solemnly and he frowned.

"I don't know why my life has changed so much in so little time, Harry. Surely there has to be a reason behind it all."

"If there is a reason, when it is all over you'll be the first to figure it out, Mione." He cupped her face and smiled again. "Until then, you need to figure out how to fix your sleeping problem. How is working with Snape going?" She felt her cheeks go red so she immediately turned away from him.

"I don't know." She muttered quietly.

"I'm not as blind as you think I am, Mione." He said, not feeling resentment towards her, but kind of pitying her. "I can see the way he looks at you when you aren't looking and it is enough to tell me how he feels about you and I think he-"

"No, Harry, don't say it!" She covered his mouth childishly with her own hands, feeling that if he was unable to finish the sentence then it would be like nothing ever happened. Harry reluctantly pulled her hands away from his face, wondering why she was so upset to hear that she had the perfect chance to move on with her life.

"Can't you see how much he cares for you?" He asked, rhetorically. "I am willing to bet that he would jump of a bridge for you, Mione. What is wrong with that?"

"I still love Ron! That is what's wrong!" She stated scandalized that he would make it out that she should care for him too. Harry looked to his best friend wondering what could change her mind if seeing her 'fiancé' kissing another woman couldn't. Would it take a wedding invitation? A baby shower invite? Something had to make Hermione see the sense behind Ron's actions.

"How?" He asked, looking directly into her pain-ridden eyes and seeing the sadness about to overflow. He hated causing her stress especially in her condition, but she had to get over Ron. "How can you love him when he doesn't love you?" Hermione's eyes were red and puffy and leaking tears like crazy. Harry unknowingly let loose the dam she had built up in her mind that told her that Ron still loved her and that it was all a nightmare. Now everything was all too real for her. She found herself staring into Harry's caring eyes once more and felt as he wrapped her in a bone crushing hug.

"Why?" Was all she was able to utter to before she began sobbing uncontrollably in Harry's open arms.

* * *

_AN: Sorry for the delay... I was home for spring break and lacking in the internet department... smiles._


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